Sinkholes from an East Idaho perspective

Last week a Florida man was likely killed when a sinkhole near his home swallowed him up and damaged part of his home. In order to help us all sleep better here in east Idaho, i set out to find whether this type of occurrence is likely to happen, close to home.

Sinkholes can be frightening. To get to the bottom of what exactly they are i talked to a local expert, geology professor Paul link, from Idaho State and he gave me his thoughts

A sinkhole forms above limestone bedrock so it’s part of what’s called Karst topography and when you have limestone at the surface then groundwater moving through the limestone can dissolve out caves and if you're sitting above a place where there’s a cave dissolved out then you will become a sinkhole.

Sinkholes are more common in Florida, and here’s why. Sandy soil, on top of clay supported with a deep layer of limestone can suddenly collapse due to dramatic shifts in Florida's underground rivers.

I don’t know of any active sink hole, but never say never..

There you have it, and while sink holes aren’t as likely in east Idaho as they are in some other states we do have other forces of nature that come our way on a regular basis.